


Mortem

by My_Beating_Hart



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Suicide Attempt, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-20
Updated: 2015-01-20
Packaged: 2018-03-08 10:26:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3205850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/My_Beating_Hart/pseuds/My_Beating_Hart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Death has a conversation with someone on a bridge.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mortem

**Author's Note:**

> What's this? Something that's not Dragon Age fanfiction?  
> Yeah, I felt like writing something completely new tonight for a change, and going back to my old style and beloved character type was refreshing. Enjoy, whether you read it through or not!

The city was spread out before him in the same way the stars were above, golden beetles bright against the velvet of the night. He cut through the frozen air like a knife, a hound on the trail of his quarry. Tonight.

He focused, and lazily spiralled down until the air grew warm and choking with polluted hazes. He often wished he had no sense of smell. Sometimes he arrived too late, the deed done and the smell of excrement heavy in the air. At least tonight, it would happen outside.

Why did they always choose bridges lately? He had to wonder as he followed that siren’s call of agony further down, the lights growing larger and brighter and picking out the towering structure that straddled a river made fat and sick on the shit they spewed into it.

He landed heavily - or, at least seemed to. He was silent as always, but doubled up anyway to dispel the speed his dive had gathered like flicking away the rain that fell on his back. Now…

Finding the human was simple enough; he sidled over crowlike, foot over foot until he was squatting on the railings beside them. Behind them both, traffic blared as it tore past, noise and light. The wind from the wakes hit his back, but that was all. No driver would see him unless he wanted them to. Same for this human.

They were short, with a long black tuft on their heads, adorned in bright garments. Judging from the grating noise and the ugly round face, also _crying_. Humans were both fascinating and disgusting to the point of pity. He could never tell one gender from the other on sight. What was gender to one such as himself? A technicality, something irrelevant.

“And you are?” He croaked. The human jumped - not forwards, sadly, but up a little in shock. They tended to do that, when they were not expecting him. Sometimes it cost them their balance, they slipped and fell to the depths below before he was done even introducing himself. He stank of river muck for days afterwards. Ugh.

The human looked at him, eyes glistening.

“Who are you?” They asked, voice trembling annoyingly. He could not tell male or female when the pitch _wobbled_ like that.

“You know.” He answered slowly, remaining as still as a statue, not even blinking. The two words were heavy, dropped like stones to fall with a _plunk_.

“Are you going to kill me?”

“No. This is your choice. I am simply the one who will get covered in wet shit recovering your squirming little soul from that river below. Wonderful way to spend a night, no?”

“So… Are you an angel?”

Ah, here was one of the religious ones. Not his favourite.

“Do I wear one of those golden disks, or a flowing white garment?” He answered flatly, tilting his head sharply to one side in a way he knew unnerved the humans.

“N-no.” The human stuttered. They looked at him closely then, when he allowed them to. He heard the intake of breath.

“What you do next, is your choice.” He intoned. “Either you step forwards, let the primal air and water embrace you one last time, or backwards, over the railing to humanity and the back of the land it has broken.”

He shifted on the metal railing, which creaked under his weight.

“I must admit, tonight I would prefer not having to disentangle myself from another pile of sodden debris afterwards.” He added helpfully as the night air whipped around them both, stealing his words away.

“Do you know what’ll happen to me… After?”

He looked back at the human uninterestedly, stared at those damp eyes in a pudgy, red face.

“No.” He croaked, craning forwards to check the distance from here to the river that flowed and gleamed in the yellow lights. It would feel like hitting concrete. Broken bones could not be used to swim. The human would drown quickly, lungs full of diseased brown water.

Was drowning painless? He’d never experienced it himself, had no point of reference beyond watching others. They tended to… Stop, after a few minutes of struggling for air. Their bubbles gleamed silver sometimes, and their soul was warm to the touch cradled against his breast. Hm.

The human shifted, drawing his attention back to the human. He watched as they peered down too.

“Why do you wish to die?” He asked, seeing how the human didn’t seem to be making the decision one way or the other anytime soon.

“I have no home to go back to, no friends or money to rely on. My life is worthless.” The human answered. Three ticks on his checklist, then. He was still hoping one day for the ‘It’ll be interesting.’ box to be checked.

“Is it truly?” He asked, and he thought the human frowned at him. Those two thin black strips of hair above their eyes curved down. That was frowning, right?

“Is there nothing in your life worth living for?”

They were quiet, apart from the regular gusts of air and noise and _life_ behind them. He waited for the human to speak.

“I suppose… You not stinking of the river?”

That was unusual. They did not often think of him when they were considering their imminent, self-perpetuated demise.

The human must have somehow recognised the surprise, even if it was from the way he paused. They laughed softly, just once or twice, as the cold wind swirled around them both.

“That is reason enough, if an odd one.” He conceded with a slow nod. The human sniffed, wiped at their face with part of their garment. He could sense a decision was being reached, and extended a hand.

The human looked from it to him, frowning again. They made an odd sound, not a laugh.

“If you are ready, make your choice. Either way, once you take my hand, I will not let go until you are safe one way or the other.” He explained, twitching his hand forward again. The human stared at it, and then took it. They breathed in deeply, and then stepped… Backwards, up onto one of the bars of the railings, sitting on the top and swinging their legs over.

Their feet touched solid ground, and he gently withdrew his hand from the human’s soft, warm one. The human turned to him, and smiled weakly.

“I’ll try again, but if t doesn’t work, maybe I’ll… See you again?”

“If I were you, choose the belt or the pills. Much less mess to deal with, and I do not stink of shit afterwards.” He answered, dipping his head obligingly.

“How morbid.” The human commented, turning to look at the traffic that raced past with new eyes.

“Human, I am Death.” He sighed, straightening up from his crouch and stretching. The human caught notice, and gasped. Then he was rocketing away into the sky, back up into the cold, thin air as the city returned to a gold reflection of the silver stars above. Perhaps someday he would see the human again, when they had shrivelled and turned grey and frail with age? Hm.

That would certainly be interesting.


End file.
